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The Most-Indebted Class Yet Should Be Vigilant About Looming Debt Burden

The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) can offer advice on locating total debt burdens, selecting a repayment plan, and avoiding default.

Washington, DC (PRWEB)October 31, 2014

After six months free from homework and exams, many college graduates in the Class of 2014 are about to face a new school-related deadline: monthly student loan payments.

Nearly 70 percent of recent college graduates borrowed for school, according to the National Center for Education Statistics' (NCES) October 2013 Degrees of Debt report, and the Department of Education's National Default Rate Briefing for FY 2011 3-Year cohort default rates published in September 2014 show 13.7 percent of these borrowers end up in default within 3 years.

Class of 2014 borrowers are about to get their first student loan bills as the six-month grace period comes to an end. Vigilant borrowers need not stress about their looming burdens, however. The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) can offer advice on locating total debt burdens, selecting a repayment plan, and avoiding default.

“It is of the utmost importance for borrowers to avoid delinquency and default as they can result in severe long-term consequences,” said Justin Draeger, president of NASFAA. “The good news is there are several ways for students to keep their loans in good standing, even if they find themselves short on funds to make a standard repayment.”

Even though the percentage of students defaulting on their loans has decreased slightly in the last year, policy makers can be doing more to help borrowers manage their debt.

To schedule an interview with a NASFAA spokesperson, please contact us at 202-687-6959 or news(at)nasfaa(dot)org.

About NASFAA
The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) is a nonprofit membership organization that represents nearly 20,000 financial aid professionals at more than 3,000 colleges, universities, and career schools across the country. NASFAA member institutions serve nine out of every ten undergraduates in the U.S. Based in Washington, D.C., NASFAA is the only national association with a primary focus on student aid legislation, regulatory analysis, and training for financial aid administrators. For more information, visit http://www.nasfaa.org.